


The First

by LittleSweetCheeks



Series: While We Sleep [7]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Dreams, Gen, Late Nights, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 04:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13562367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks





	The First

“Hey, Kiddo, what’cha doing’?” JJ found Henry in his room, flipping through the pages of a book.

“Looking at pictures.”

Curious, she crossed the room and sat beside him on his bed. “Pictures, huh?” It only took her a second to figure out what album he had. She rubbed his back.

Henry rolled to the side a bit so he could look up at his mom. The pictures were old now, they started from when his mom had started her job at the Bureau, long before he was born. “You’ve had your job a long time.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I wasn’t an agent then, but I got lucky and got picked for the team right away.”

“Who picked you?”

“Well, I talked to a lot of people, but I think in the end Jack’s dad did.”

“You worked with him a lot?”

She stared down at the photos on the page. It was from a unit party, some celebration she couldn’t remember but it was clear it had been in her early days. She looked so young. They all did. “Yeah. We were really close friends.”

“I thought Jack and I were really close friends too.” He frowned. “Why can’t they come back? If they’re really our friends, shouldn’t they want to come back?”

JJ chewed her lip. “It doesn’t always work like that.”

“But, why not?” He asked.

Lacking a good answer, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s late, Hen, get some sleep, okay? We can talk about it more tomorrow.”

Henry sighed. “Yeah. Fine.”

JJ stood and headed for her own bed, already ready for sleep.

==

The sixth floor was empty, the lights dimmed due to the late hour. JJ looked around the bullpen to gain some sort of idea as to why she was here. There were no desk lamps on, no signs of other life around. “Hello?” She called out but received no answer. Frowning, she wandered the desolate space, glancing at desks and into empty offices. For a small moment, she expected to find Hotch at his old desk once again, just like she’d used to find him at odd hours of the night. There was a time she’d wondered if, on the nights she wasn’t there to force him home, he’d just stay the whole night through. Stopping at the window, she remembered, it was Emily’s office now and her friend had less of a tendency to pull all-nighters, perhaps having learned from the errors of her predecessor.

Leaving the bullpen, JJ headed toward Garcia’s bunker, passing her old office on the way. The door was half open and the desk light was on. “Hello?” She tried again, pushing the door open more before she stopped and stared. On her old couch sat Hotch. “Hey.” She finally spoke out loud. “Why are you here?” She looked around the room. “Is this… Am I dreaming?”

Hotch looked up at her and then around the room. “What makes you ask that?”

She shrugged.

“If you think you’re dreaming, what should you try to do?”

“Manipulate the dream.” Came her reply. She thought a minute, wanting to go for the least likely scenario to confirm her dream state, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they weren’t in her old office anymore, but in a hotel room. He in sleep pants and a t-shirt and she in sweats. “Dream it is then.”

Hotch looked down as himself and up at her with an arched brow. “Was this necessary?”

JJ shrugged with a smirk. “Could’ve been worse.”

“I do not doubt that.”

Crossing to the window, she tried to work out where they were. “Where are we?”

“Maine. The case with the three dead women. Your first case where the victims all looked just like you.”

“Right.”

“The night I came to you with an urgent need to hash out several press statements in case the case went different ways.” He turned to the pair of beds in the room. “We fell asleep.”

“On separate beds, surrounded by paperwork.” She finished. “We never needed or used those statements.”

“No.”

“You knew that before you turned up that night.” She turned away from the window. “You knew I was scared.”

Aaron didn’t answer.

“And… You were worried for me.” She crossed the room and sat on the bed, then one she’d slept on back then. “You were a good boss. A good friend.” She patted the space beside her and looked up at him, but he didn’t move. “Henry misses Jack, misses his friend and it got me to thinking… Sure, I miss the way the team used to be, and I miss having you there as our boss and leader and as part of our family, but… I miss my friend.”

“We’ve been apart before.”

“I know.” She frowned. “I think it’s harder seeing Henry without his friend as well.”

“Kids are resilient. He has other friends, right?”

“Yeah, he does.” She thought a minute. “But Jack understood better, having a parent who traveled for work, did what we do.”

“Henry was good for Jack too.” He finally crossed the room and sat beside her.

JJ smiled softly and closed her eyes again, focusing now on the memory of her old office. Opening her eyes, she confirmed it had worked. “Better?” They were both dressed casually again.

“Whatever makes you happy.”

“Seeing you again would make me happy.”

Aaron frowned. “I can’t do anything about that.”

“How do I explain this all to him?”

“He’s old enough, you’ve explained the witness protection to him and he understood that. Hiding to be safe, to stay alive. Henry understands that scary things are out there. Perhaps it’s time to explain to him the other things.”

“Other things?” She questioned. “You mean, like Haley?”

He nodded. “Just enough so he can understand? Parents make tough decisions every day but sometimes… Sometimes kids need to know just a little bit in order to understand why we have to hurt a little. He needs to understand that if you and Will had to make a choice like that, you would always put his safety over being near friends.”

“Yeah.” She knew that if her boys’ lives were at risk, she wouldn’t hesitate one moment to make them safe, there would be no consideration as to whether friendships stayed intact, their lives came first. Standing, she turned to him. “I do miss you.” She could feel herself tear up a bit. “I…” She couldn’t find the words so instead she leaned down, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Without a word, she let herself out of the room and walked down the hall.

==

Will held his wife close as she began to wake, wiping a tear off her cheek. “Hey, Jay, I’m here.” He felt as she clung to his arms. “Nightmare?”

“No.”

“You sure? You looked pretty upset.” He whispered in the early morning light.

“Sad, but… Not a nightmare.” She turned in his arms, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Did I ever tell you about the first case I ever travelled with the team?”


End file.
